Frei José de Jesus Maria Mayne[a] (7 June 1723 – 23 December 1792) was a Portuguese Catholic priest who occupied several important posts such as Minister General of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis, Chief Chaplain of the Royal Armada, and confessor to King Peter III.[1]
Fr. José de Jesus Maria Mayne | |
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| Born | 7 June 1723 |
| Died | 23 December 1792 (aged 69) |
José Mayne is intimately associated with the history of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences. In keeping with the intellectual movement of the Enlightenment, he instituted a school of natural history integrated into the Academy: to achieve this, he established a cabinet of curiosities by donating his important collection to the Academy and made significant contributions to its library.
Mayne's interest in natural history and science emphasised the study of the wonders of Creation as a way to fight the modern materialistic philosophical views espoused by foreign thinkers in France (Voltaire, Rousseau, Helvétius, Boulanger, Diderot, Robinet, La Mettrie) and Britain (Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Coward, Cudworth, Dodwell, Toland, Collins), which he actively opposed as destructive errors that endangered both religion and State.[2][3]
Works
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Silva, Innocencio Francisco da (1860). Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez [Portuguese Bibliographic Dictionary] (in Portuguese). Vol. V. Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional. pp. 70–71.
- ^ Ferreira, Breno Ferraz Leal (2018). "A teologia natural na cultura científica da Ilustração portuguesa: Oratorianos e Franciscanos (1750-1800)" [Natural theology in the scientific culture of Portuguese Enlightenment: Oratorians and Franciscans (1750-1800)] (PDF). Rev. Hist. (São Paulo) (in Portuguese) (177). doi:10.11606/issn.2316-9141.rh.2018.138518. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
- ^ Ferreira, Breno Ferraz Leal (2014). "Um Iluminismo libertino" [A libertine Enlightenment]. Topoi (Rio J.) (in Portuguese). 15 (29): 679–684. doi:10.1590/2237-101X015029013.
Notes
edit- ^ Also rendered as "Joseph de Jesus Maria Mayne", as it was usually spelt in the 18th century; alternatively, but less frequently, "Maine".